Hindi movie reviews from an American moviegoer's perspective

Tag Archives: De De Pyaar De

Kabir Singh got off to a good start, posting the sixth best opening weekend total and per-theater average for a Hindi film in North America this year. From June 21-23, 2019, the Arjun Reddy remake earned $639,994 from 144 theaters ($4,444 average), according to Bollywood Hungama.

Also new on Wednesday are the Urdu films Wrong No. 2 — opening at MovieMax, South Barrington 24, and Cantera — and Chhalawa, which opens at the South Barrington 24 on Wednesday and Cantera on Thursday.

De De Pyaar De gets a fourth week at the South Barrington 24 and MovieMax, which also holds over India’s Most Wanted.

Other Indian movies playing in the Chicago area this weekend (all films have English subtitles):

The weekend of May 31-June 2, 2019, was predictably slow for Bollywood movies in North America because of the impending release of Salman Khan’s Bharat on June 5, but there’s also a real lack of audience interest in the Hindi films currently on offer. Three-week-old De De Pyaar De led the way with $64,458 from 52 theaters ($1,240), according to Bollywood Hungama. With $992,995 in earnings so far, the comedy is on the verge of becoming the tenth Hindi film to earn $1 million in North America this year.

That’s where the good news ends. Both of the films in their second weekend of release failed to average $1,000 in per-theater earnings. PM Narendra Modi took in $12,110 from 16 theaters ($757 average), bringing its total to $109,885. India’s Most Wanted was absolutely tragic, earning $18,111 from 80 theaters — a per-theater average of just $226, according to Box Office Mojo. Even with its large theatrical footprint (having opened on 110 screens), it’s only managed to earn $168,016 here so far.

Photograph is struggling as well. In its third weekend, it earned $44,234 from 81 theaters ($546 average), bringing its total to $302,463. That’s almost exactly what director Ritesh Batra’s previous film The Lunchbox had earned at the end of its third weekend back in 2014: $306,347. However, The Lunchbox was only showing in 18 theaters at the time and was averaging almost $5,000 per screen. The Lunchbox didn’t hit its peak theater count (165) until Week 9, and its per-theater average didn’t fall below $1,000 until Week 15. The Lunchbox finished its run with $4.2 million in earnings, but it looks like Photograph might top out at about 10% of that.

Student of the Year 2 closed out its fourth weekend with $751 from three theaters, bringing its total to $738,134.

May 24-26, 2019, was a bad weekend for Bollywood films in North America, both in terms of performance and available information. None of the popular resources reported box office data for either De De Pyaar De or Student of the Year 2.

The three Hindi films for which info exists all did poorly. India’s Most Wanted opened in 110 theaters and earned just $98,322 ($894 average), according to Box Office Mojo. The other new release — PM Narendra Modi — earned $52,643 from 49 theaters ($1,074 average), per Bollywood Hungama. And Photograph‘s second-weekend expansion into 123 theaters resulted in $130,750 in earnings ($1,063 average), bringing the drama’s total to $180,560. Definitely a Memorial Day weekend to forget.

The romantic comedy De De Pyaar De got off to an okay start in North America. From May 17-19, 2019, it earned $425,934 from 104 theaters ($4,096 average), according to Box Office Mojo.

The weekend also marked the local debut of director Ritesh Batra’s Photograph, which released in India back in March. The drama earned $35,796 from 13 theaters ($2,754 average), though it will likely add theaters and expand to other cities in the coming weeks.

Student of the Year 2 didn’t hold up as well in its second weekend as its predecessor did. Back in 2012, Student of the Year carried over 40% of its opening weekend business into its second weekend, but SOTY2‘s holdover was just 22% — $103,381 from 189 theaters ($547 average). Look for it to lose a lot of theaters going into its third weekend. Its total stands at $724,058.

Two new Hindi films open in the Chicago area on May 17, 2019. The wider release of the two goes to De De Pyaar De, a romantic comedy in which Ajay Devgn leaves Tabu for a woman half his age (Rakul Preet Singh). It’s written by filmmaker Luv Ranjan, who treated the female characters like garbage in his movie Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2. I’m sitting this one out.